Perry Mason and The Case of the Loopy Leaf

Last fall I dove into watching the Perry Mason tv movies that ran from 1985 to 1995. I gave up after the first 4 1/8 films, but decided to try them again. This time though I figured I'd pick movies at random instead of marching in sequence through all 30. This is proving to be a good strategy as they get better as time goes on. 

Recently I watched The Case of the Silenced Singer from 1990. It's interesting, but one anomaly leapt from the screen: it looked like there was an upside down Canadian flag flying above the entrance to a hotel where Perry was interrogating a piano player. To me it looks like the stem of the maple leaf is at the top of the flag. Given that the movie was supposed to have been filmed in Denver, it seemed odd the Canadian flag would be in the centre of the group, and upside down to boot. Maybe it's a subtle message of a Canadian in distress? Maybe a set dresser was in a hurry to make some nondescript building look like a hotel or restaurant? Or maybe I need new glasses :-)

In Perry Mason, Toronto does not play itself

Over the course of the year we've probably watched every episode of the old Perry Mason tv series twice. Looking for fresh stories we're now trying to watch the Perry Mason made-for-tv movies. Trying is the key word here.

The old series ran from 1957 to 1966, and the tv movies debuted in 1985. There were 30 of these movies made up until 1995. Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale reprise their roles as Perry and Della, but everything else is more-or-less new. Including the locales. I've only watched 4 1/8 of these 'movies', but so far the real Los Angeles is nowhere in sight. In the premier, Perry Mason Returns, Toronto stands in for LA, and in the third movie, The Case of the Shooting Star, Toronto plays New York City. Colorado, maybe Denver, seems to be the setting for the other movies, but I'm not sure about that, or where they were shot.

Anyway, other than the pleasure of seeing performances from Burr and Hale in their old roles, these movies leave a lot to be desired. My watching has devolved into seeing if I can spot Toronto locales. I hit a low when I spotted that scene above in The Case of the Shooting Star where a TTC bus drives down a street in NYC! I also recall a scene where I saw streetcar track in a road. I need to go back and see if any TTC streetcars are making cameo appearances in the background :-)

We paused this movie marathon about 1/8th of the way through The Case of the Sinister Spirit. I couldn't take any more, and there were no misplaced buses to raise my own spirits.

Perry Mason has a parking problem at Angels Flight

At the beginning of The Case of the Twice Told-Twist, Perry decides to take the Angels Flight funicular to visit a client and have him sign some papers before an evening at the theatre with Della.

Perry and Della pull into the parking lot at the top of Angels Flight.

This episode's in colour, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the cool blue of Perry's car.

Perry and Della leave the car and head off to the station.

This episode aired on 27 February 1966, so I'm assuming that's how the station looked in '65 / '66.

And, they're off. The car's empty except for Perry and Della. Perry says the task will take less than 10 minutes, so they shouldn't miss the opening curtain.

And in less than 10 minutes, with business completed, they're almost back to the station.

Yikes! 

Even the rag top is gone.

Thieves must have had more courtesy back then because when a friend's car had its snow tires and wheels taken off, the theives just left the car dropped, wheelless, on the snowy parking lot. At least these ones left Perry's car up on blocks.






This might not have been a good advertisement for the funicular given Perry Mason's popularity, but it was interesting to see what the funicular looked like at the time. Apparently this was the only episode of Perry Mason's original series filmed in colour. It was good to see the cast and familiar places in something other than glorious black-and-white, but the story seemed like it took its cues from a beach movie with Frankie and Annette.

An unsolved murder in The Case of the Golden Oranges

In the Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Golden Oranges, which first aired on 7 March 1963, there was a murder that until now has remained unrecognized and unsolved. 

Architect, James (Jimmy) Wheeler, unpaid for his services, returns to the subdivision construction office late one night to claim his house models, only to be surprised by Mrs. Doyle who drops by for a rendezvous with developer Gerald Thornton.

Jimmy: These things belong to me Mrs. Doyle. I made them on my own time. I'm taking them with me.

Mrs. Doyle: I wonder just how far you're going to get with them.

Jimmy places a model on the floor beside his carton, unaware of the horror that's about to occur when Mr. Thornton arrives.

Mr. Thornton: Well what have we here?

Mrs. Doyle: Mr. Wheeler tells me he's repossessing some of his little trinkets.

Mr. Thornton: Well that's funny. I thought they were my little trinkets.

If it makes you feel any better, Gerald ('The Foot') Thornton is later shot, not for this outrage, and it's not by Jimmy, but who could blame him if he did. 

No more is mentioned of this crushing of an innocent miniature building. 

I can only hope they got this scene in one take :-)